Sarah Palin's sleight of palm

No matter how many times Sarah Palin writes it on her palm, it's not true. Democrats do not want to enact a $3.8 trillion tax increase, the biggest in U.S. history. Let's leave aside the point that it was George W. Bush who signed the law allowing the tax cuts to expire at the end of this year, and the accompanying metaphysical argument over whether allowing a tax cut to expire as scheduled is equivalent to enacting a tax increase. Because no one in the Democratic leadership -- not President Obama, not Nancy Pelosi, not Harry Reid -- is arguing against extending the tax cuts for those making less than $250,000 a year ($200,000 a year for individuals). Indeed, the Obama administration -- irresponsibly in my view -- has said those "middle class" cuts should be made permanent. The only disagreement is over whether to let the tax cuts expire for the upper brackets -- at a cost of about $700 billion over ten years.

Not that you could tell that from Palin's comments today on Fox News Sunday. "Let me just go through a couple of things that I want people to be aware of, because, you know, the spin coming from Gibbs and the White House -- you're never going to get the truth out of their messaging," she said -- and then proceeded to deliver this misinformation: "Democrats are poised now to cause this largest tax increase in U.S. history. It's a tax increase of $3.8 trillion over the next 10 years, and it will have an effect on every single American who pays an income tax." Palin even wrote it on her palm: "$3.8 trillion, next ten years, so I didn't say 3.7 and then get dinged, you know, by the -- by the liberals saying I didn't know what I was talking about."

Sorry, you don't know what you're talking about.

Reasonable people can differ about whether the current fragile state of the economy counsels extending all the tax cuts on a temporary basis, even those for the wealthiest Americans -- although I think the political risk of locking in the high-end cuts on a permanent basis exceeds the fiscal risk of letting them expire. "It's idiotic to think about increasing taxes at a time like this," Palin said. Of course the "idiots" who have advocating letting the tax cuts expire on schedule include former Federal Reserve Board Chairman Alan Greenspan -- which makes him more of a tax-raiser than Nancy Pelosi. What's really idiotic, though, is conflating the debate about what to do now, while the economy is recovering, with the discussion of what should happen after that.

"We could go on and on and on about what's a part of this expiration of the Bush tax cuts that people, I think, are just superficially hearing information on," Palin said. "They need to delve in there. They need to dig in there and get the information, get the facts, and don't believe the spin coming from the White House."

Delve in there, by all means. But don't believe the spin coming from Sarah Palin.

db9999 - you better start reading something other than that right-wing propaganda. As soon as that clown got to the part with the Laffer curve, I knew he was full of it. Even top economists from the Bush administration say these Republicons are full of it. This is what they said then, and here's the results of the Bush tax cuts. The tax cuts have been largely opposed by American economists, including the Bush administration's own Economic Advisement Council. In 2003, 450 economists, including ten Nobel Prize laureate, signed the Economists' statement opposing the Bush tax cuts, sent to President Bush stating that "these tax cuts will worsen the long-term budget outlook... will reduce the capacity of the government to finance Social Security and Medicare benefits as well as investments in schools, health, infrastructure, and basic research... [and] generate further inequalities in after-tax income." The Bush administration has claimed, based on the concept of the Laffer Curve, that the tax cuts actually paid for the themselves by generating enough extra revenue from additional economic growth to offset the lower taxation rates. However, income tax revenues in dollar terms did not regain their FY 2000 peak until 2006. Through the end of 2008, total federal tax revenues relative to GDP have yet to regain their 2000 peak. In contrast to the claims made by Bush, Cheney, and Republican presidential primary candidates such as Rudy Giuliani, there is a broad consensus among even conservative economists (including current and former top economists of the Bush Administration such as Greg Mankiw) that the tax cuts have had a substantial net negative impact on revenues (i.e., revenues would have been substantially higher if the tax cuts had not taken place.) And Palin is as dumb as a box-of-rocks. Is there anything you right-wingers won't do to take back power?

Hemihead,
Nothing you wrote is accurate...or relevant. You're as dumb as Marcus. Do you lefties read much
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I'm just telling it like it is. You ask any economists, even from the right, and see what they say. If you want to give tax cuts, you better be prepared to make massive cuts in spending. And you know as well as I do they're not going to do that. These wars and the BS war on terror will break us. You ever see that senate hearing with Rumsfeld on You Tube, 2.3 trillion dollars in defense spending they made vanish into thin air. And when an auditor came in to try and find some of the money, he was laughed at and blocked at every turn. And to this day the Pentagon cant account for the money it spends. Our whole Govt. is corrupt. Look up the video on YT - Rumsfeld. 2.3 trillion tax-payer dollars missing. Better yet, here's the link. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_rRqeJcuK-A

President Bush deliberately passed a tax reduction with an end date to avoid having to include the effects of the tax bill on the Federal deficit.

The Republican Party is now calling the expiration deliberately included in the law by a Republican President and Republican Congress a tax increase if it is allowed to expire on the date clearly stipulated in the law (perhaps the measure was too long for the Republicans to read).

Republicans wrote and passed a 2001 tax cut bill that was unfunded. Republicans wrote and passed a Medicare Rx prescription plan that was unfunded. Republicans wrote and utilized emergency appropriations that were never included in budgets to pay for the entire cost of running the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. And now, Republicans propose extending the 2001 tax cuts without funding them.

A further example of the fiscal imprudence of the Republicans is Rep. Boehner’s recent proposal to delay full Social Security benefits to age 70 as the first step to steal the $2.5 Trillion Dollars of Social Security payroll taxes paid by more than 140 million currently working and retired Americans. The fact that Americans have already given the Federal Government $2.5 Trillion Dollars in payroll taxes to fund their Social Security retirement is a non-factor to the Republicans.

The previous Republican administration and Republicans presently in the Congress are perfectly happy redeeming the U.S. Treasury securities sold to Saudi Arabia and China to fund the many unfunded expenditures they proposed, voted upon, and enacted into law using borrowed money.

The same Republicans and their pundits now tell us they are unwilling to redeem the U.S. Treasury securities held by the Social Security Trust Fund. It was apparently A-OK to receive and spend the Social Security payroll taxes from workers and businesses to run the government while it was under Republican control; they just don’t want to spend them on actual Social Security benefits now that they no longer have control.

Along with tens of millions of taxpayers, I am tired of the chicanery of both the Republicans and Democrats in playing games to determine what a deficit is, and when it is appropriate. I am not the only taxpayer who has concluded that the Republicans have less personal integrity and about as much fiscal prudence as Bernie Madoff.

I was willing to serve in the Armed Forces. I am willing to pay for the cost of providing government that provides the Liberty we enjoy. Why do so many Americans, elected politicians, and media pundits demand Liberty and the services that make our country great, but refuse to participate in defending it, or paying for it?

The tax reductions of 2001 should be allowed to expire. Anyone who wants it continued should explain how they plan to fund the estimated $1.4 - $3.1 Trillion Dollars cost of extending the tax cuts.

I thought you might be saying something intelligent Marcus until you said,"now while the economy is recovering". That showed me you haven't a clue. This economy is not recovering, and Sarah Palin is absolutely right about the liberal spin being put out by yourself and the White House. This administration has not created jobs; this administration has done nothing but spend the country into near bankruptcy.

Amazing how many myopic Repubs support Sarah knowing that she's wrong and is incapable of any original anlytical thoughts. she eschews the views of the consultants assigned to her and is on perpetual ghost writer status..hence the palmistry..everytime she attempts to stray from the machine assembled for her she has to refudiate eveything she says and blames the lame street media. Thats how hopey changey stuff works. Sarah's only goal is self she has mastered greed and parlayed it to a desperate Repub base hungry for any shameless charlatan who purports to have their interest. As long as she can stay at the top of the brand name income based political arena she's satisfied to be continuosly and outrageously irrelevant. No Brain = No Rep Leadership..

Ruth "The One Trick Pony" is back again with another Palin hatchet job. Here's the incredible part about it: most (and maybe nearly all) of America had no idea that she said anything this week. Why would you give her air time or credibility by providing critical analysis of her statements? Why not just ignore her? If you said nothing about her wouldn't she at some time just go away?

Now, I am a conservative (by the way, a real fiscal conservative, I could care less about the religious right, the birthers or the people who want to stop gay marriage or gays in the military), and it pains me every time Palin talks. But, I swear, I check out the facts behind her statements every time you, Ruth, bring it up. And, many times, I come away with the opinion you're just grinding an axe rather than you have a defensible position.

Go on to something else. You always appear whiny whenever you get on the Palin subject...which is all the time.

Ruth Marcus and the brain-dead Palin bashers - stop attacking the messenger and address the points made in the interview. Will the expiration of the Bush tax cuts harm the fragile economy even more or not? Prestigious economist Arthur Laffer vehemently disagrees. Go read his June 6th article, Tax Hikes and the 2011 Economic Collapse.

"The only disagreement is over whether to let the tax cuts expire for the upper brackets -- at a cost of about $700 billion over ten years."

Since the stimulus bill had a price tag of $789 billion, ending the Bush tax cuts looks like the Democrats' way of paying for their own failed attempt to fix the economy. Palin is right to sound the alarm. Obama's tax-and-spend mentality is driving this country to the brink of a financial abyss.

It just goes to prove the Democrats are the party of NO .... no jobs, no prosperity, no transparency, no bipartisanship, and no common sense.

Why is it that none of the palin supporters posting here has offered a true defense of her position? Ruth has spelled out, chapter and verse, about the tax cuts and included the words of several noted economists and all you can say is she doesn't like palin. Neither do I as she is a nobody without a thought. A quitter who couldn't take the pressure of being the gov and decided those folks couldn't pay her as much as fox could to spout inanities. Do the Dems a favor and please nominate her in 2012. Even those who don't like Obama will vote for him.

Sarah Palin definitely has cojones, but what she doesn't have is brains. That's a pretty dangerous combination! Hmmm.....doesn't this sound like someone we all know? Now who is that... The name is right on the tip of my tongue...... I have an image of him and his blank stare....

Marcus' obsession with Palin is abnormal. She should let this go or get some professional help. As in therapy.

Maybe group therapy, come to think of it.
Why does the WaPo track the success of Palin's endorsements (which she at least has the courage to make) while it ignores whether Obama or Biden make any positive difference?

Curious that the anti-Marcus commenters forget that TARP was adopted under the prior President -- you remember, a fellow named Bush?

Also interesting that the GOP won't vote for unemployment compensation, small business help, or education help without "paying" for them without cuts in government, but they are perfectly willing to extend Bush's totally irresponsible tax policy without any effort to pay for them.

Palin is Obama's gift horse that just keeps on giving. Even straddled with an economy like this, Obama will probably get reelected, thanks to Sarah, Beck, and Fox News. Obama will get reelected not because everyone loves or trusts him, but to avoid the other options as in 2008. I just hope that Israel does not get sold out after he gets reelected.

Ruth Marcus and the brain-dead Palin bashers - stop attacking the messenger and address the points made in the interview. Will the expiration of the Bush tax cuts harm the fragile economy even more or not? Prestigious economist Arthur Laffer vehemently disagrees. Go read his June 6th article, Tax Hikes and the 2011 Economic Collapse.

Typical lazy, ComPost reporting with the usual dose of Palin-bashing.
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The Bush tax cuts were enacted as two wars raged, the first time in U.S. history anyone was stupid enough to try that maneuver.
The result, intended or not but real nonetheless, was the worst job creation record since Hoover. It made very rich people even richer and reduced an already staggering middle class.
Right wingers claim the stimulus neither saved nor created jobs, scoffing at claims from the White House.
And yet, with far less evidence, the righties claim the continuance of tax cuts that had nothing but negative effects on most Americans, will somehow now become the economy's savior.
If the cuts have had no effect since 2007, the start of the recession, why would they magically work now?
Even such staunch conservatives as Greenspan and Bush's former budget director, among many others, say the cuts must die so that America's economy remains alive.
Sticking stubbornly to a damaging conservative ideology when it flies in the face of common sense is a disaster in the making.
And, lastly, considering the damage Palin did to Alaska, she should hardly be the first person to consult about America's economy.

Palin hasn't "delved" into anything in her life that has been even remotely connected to fact checking.

She is an unchallenged talking head that is doing herself no good politically and substantivley to engagein conservative "love ins" on Fox. She will be slaughtered by someone who actually has "facts" ina "debate" if she ever chooses to engage in a substantive one.

Gov. Palin is absolutely right, as usual of course, but does not go quite far enough.

The truth is that Dimwitcrats want to confiscate every last penny you have. They plot night and day to separate you from the fruit of your labor. They'll do it in a heartbeat the moment you're not looking.

Why? Because you are not worthy to keep what you earn. You must not be permitted to spend your own money in ways that Dimwitcrats and our exalted elites like Ms. Marcus do not approve. You must be punished for whatever you accomplish. Everything you have is theirs, punk. You are not worthy!

Oh Republicans, please run her again. We need to make this much easier than the last one. Please give Tina Fey more material to work with. Even her own teenage, drop-out daughter can outwit her. I hope Obama will let loose on her now; all we need is one overarching summary of this trick, and she will be cooked. All she has is a big mouth. Thats it. No real smarts at all. Shes nothing more than a knucklehead in a skirt.

I suspect that the ink from the pen that Palin uses is causing some kind of poisoning resulting in mental deficiency. Call it Acquired Mental Deficiency. It appears that AMD causes delusional creativity evidenced by involuntary word coining, making up facts, thinking that she understands economics which causes her to falsely call perfectly sensible things idiotic. AMD seems to cause unfounded paranoia that a neighbor is watching you and your family which in turn causes additional strange behavior such as thinking about staying out of the neighbor's view because he may be watching.
On second thought, maybe not -- the ink poisoning thing that is -- because so many Republicans do the same things except for the word coining and neighbor paranoia. It must be old fashioned wrong-headed thinking by a failed politician who is naturally lacking mental capacity, shame and embarrassment.

She doesn't, it's true, know what she is talking about generally. But whenever she speaks, self-loathing feminists and other liberals start frothing at the mouth. The result, you get people like Marcus, who knows perhaps just a tad more than Palin about economics, swimming in intellectual waters that are too deep. In the end, all you are left with is smear campaign that turns off the Oprah base.

In November, when you lose the independent vote and the soccer mom vote, those voters who helped put Obama in office, know it's because Middle America responds negatively to the hate the left spews.

It always amazes me that anyone believes that hateful "dimwit". Remember Death Panels. Palin will do and say anything no matter how damaging her nonsense is.
I also can't believe the GOP use the words President and Palin in the same sentence. All she does is hide on Fox, Twitter and Facebook. Run her mouth incessently without defending her positions with experts. And..pretends the media she uses to spew her hate is "picking on her". Oh please Republicans run her in 2010!!

You're being generous when you say Sarah Palin does not know what she is talking about.

Palin knows exactly what she's talking about. She has that problem we see in most Fox commentators - blatant lying.

How else can they get the rubes (yes you, Republican middle class that believes Fox talking heads care for you) to buy their garbage, their nonsense dedicated to further enriching the very rich and letting corporations run wild, at the expense of the middle class.

I wonder if tools like Ms Marcus are concerned when a sitting President tells a major network, ABC News that he absolutely rejects the notion that his Health Care Bill mandate is a tax, and then his Justice Department argues in court it is constitutional because it is a tax! Nah, move along, only Sarah Palin bothers "yentas" like Ruthie. Or, how about making up economic metrics like "saved and created" to obfuscate a utter failure of a trillion dollar "stimulus"? You thing Saved" will be taught in economics right along "supply and demand". Who knows, maybe Obama wrote about this theory in college, maybe Ruth can gain access to his hidden academic records. Oh well, Sarah Plain wrote on her hand, hey, how are all the "corpseman" doing?

When Pelosi / Reid / Obama took over Congress in Jan 2007, after 12 years of Republican prosperity, unemployment was at 4%, DOW was at a record high, we had had 54 straight months of economic growth.

The recession started in late 2007, nearly A YEAR AFTER the Democrat Congress took power, with the DOW is down 40% from when Pelosi/Reid/Obama took over The Republican Congress had 4 budget surplus years, and left in 2006, with the DOW at a record high, unemployment sub 4%, deficits were moderate and trending down, and after 52 straight months of economic growth.

100% of the recession, 100% of the stock market drop, 100% of skyrocketing unemployment, 100% of the bailouts, the crash of the Frank/Dodd financial system, a 40% growth in Govt spending, and $3.8 Trillion of new deficit debt, the worst environmental disaster in US history belongs to THIS DEMOCRAT CONGRESS.

Gov. Palin is absolutely right, as usual of course, but does not go quite far enough.
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Suggestion for the die-hard Palin fanatics; invite or arrange for her to attend the Sunday discussion groups on national broadcast. Let us see if she has the 'cajones'.

Palin is an opportunist preying on the most ignorant Americans. She has a track record of overly mis-stating things to the point of being lies just to rile up the Tea Klan crowd. Also, the idiots of the Tea Klan fail to realize that the Bush Tax Cuts where supplemented by borrowing the money (and not budget cuts) from China who is making a tidy profit on interest payments.. Thanks George Bush. For all you idiots out there that is like choosing to forgo your salary because you will borrow the money, at the end of the day, you still owe the money.

The GOP and Tea Klan talk about fiscal responsibility however they have yet to demonstrate the capability to be responsible. If they think that we can continue to borrow so the top 3% can keep more money they are, in fact, idiots.

When Pelosi / Reid / Obama took over Congress in Jan 2007, after 12 years of Republican prosperity, unemployment was at 4%, DOW was at a record high, we had had 54 straight months of economic growth.

The recession started in late 2007, nearly A YEAR AFTER the Democrat Congress took power, with the DOW is down 40% from when Pelosi/Reid/Obama took over The Republican Congress had 4 budget surplus years, and left in 2006, with the DOW at a record high, unemployment sub 4%, deficits were moderate and trending down, and after 52 straight months of economic growth.

100% of the recession, 100% of the stock market drop, 100% of skyrocketing unemployment, 100% of the bailouts, the crash of the Frank/Dodd financial system, a 40% growth in Govt spending, and $3.8 Trillion of new deficit debt, the worst environmental disaster in US history belongs to THIS DEMOCRAT CONGRESS.

TWELVE LONG YEARS OF RECORD PROSPERITY with the Republican Congress,
THREE YEARS OF FAILURE, MISERY, FISCAL INSANITY, ENVIRONMENTAL DISASTER, AND RUIN UNDER Pelosi/Reid/Obama...

Posted by: panola60
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Amazing that you choose to blame everything on the Democratic Congress. The Resession started in December of 2007, 10 months after they took control of Congress. PLEASE tell us what legislation did they enact, and Bush failed to veto, that led to the ressession. This is the major failing in the Tea Klan thinking, they think that on January 21st that any change made instantly takes effect? How stupid are you? Our economic crisis is 90% Bush and the GOP's fault and 10% Clinton and the Democrats.

While I am at it, and to point out the GOP and Tea Klans total lack of economic responsibility they want to extend the the Bush Tax Cuts, which cut over $700 Billion Bush & the GOP enacted for the upper brackets alone, so how do we pay for Bush's government spending? We borrow it from China and let our children worry about the interest payments. And even now they are fighting for the very rich to keep their tax cuts, I bet they would trade a tax cut for the rich for taxing the middle class.

Has Palin even began to proposed a serious plan on immigration or anything? Its easy to point out that an Administration does not have a solution for X, but when your party has blocked or delayed every bill for A-W, you are simply being dishonest.

Republicans the party of No : No Solution, No Hope, No future and No Clue.

I like to see just one Republican suggest how we might balance a budget, just one. Note the only time we have balanced budgets is through tax INCREASES.

Interesting and revealing that Sarah Palin chooses to call herself a "Mama Grizzly". Last week was not the first time that a mama grizzly killed an innocent camper who was in no way threatening or harrassing her or her cubs. Sarah Palin is the worst demogogue in a generation, and like the animal she has adpoted as her model, her tiny brain is incapable of controlling her dangerous impulses.

Posted by: tkmmd
That showed me you haven't a clue. This economy is not recovering, and Sarah Palin is absolutely right about the liberal spin being put out by yourself and the White House. This administration has not created jobs; this administration has done nothing but spend the country into near bankruptcy.
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Remarkable how Palin supporters figure that just repeating factually inaccurate information over and over (and with no attribution other than fellow fact free bloggers perhaps) somehow makes it correct. The economy is, of course, demonstrably recovering. And - even setting aside the prior administration's hand in the financial collapse - the lion's share of the deficit happened prior to Obama taking office.

I have no expectation that Palin and company would ever acknowledge the facts. She went on Fox specifically to say things that were incorrect, trying to turn notes on her hand into some kind of endearing trait rather than a pitiful charade. So like the 70% of Fox viewers who believed Saddam was involved with 9/11 or the existence of death panels, we just have more nonsense out there that the fact free will take hold of. Just clueless.

In today's episode, Jim Daly, a kinder, gentler Dobson from Focus on the Family, guest stars to chide Soap Opera Sarah for saying Obama doesn't have any "cajones"

That word is Spanish for a body part Christians don't mention, preaches Daly while Levi's bares his for another playgirl photo shoot and the evil liberal neighbor captures a photo of Bristol in curlers and zit cream.

Meanwhile, Sarah begs Hillary to persuade the Russians, who Sarah can see from her house, to release little grandson Ribbit who was swept away there in a balloon powered by hot air from Sarah's teabagger rallies.

If you really listen to Palin she has no independent thought to back up what she reads off a sheet of paper (that someone has written for her..) there is too much nonsense coming out of that Wasilia mouth of hers.. She is an idiot and only non-thinking idiots gravitate to her and support her. She is an insult to thinking people everywhere... Her 15 minutes of fame should have been up a long time ago..

I hope Ms. Palin isn't a deficit hawk, because that $3.8 trillion she's referring to is the amount that these tax cuts will add to the deficit over 10 years.

It's no surprise that Republicans are being as disingenuous as they possibly can on this issue. But why do people who aren't doing the work of plutocrats defending them? Do you conservatives care about the deficit, or do you care about a couple percentage points in the tax rate on the very wealthy? You can't care about both and be serious.

The GOP needs to mindful of what it wishes for, because Obama might just give it to them (only in ways they might not like). The GOP sat with their thumbs up their butts and cried over the fact that Obama had no way to pay for his "socialist" policies. Well, he found a way; ending $3.8 trillion worth of government sactioned tax evasion. Obams is saying that we shouls ALL pay our fair share. Lower to upper-middle class workers pay nearly 1/3rd of their income to Uncle Sam. The filthy rich pay less than 1/5th. The end of class warfare is on the horizon. And if you don't like it, you can thank your buddy Baby Bush. This was his idea.

YOU CAN DENIGRATE FOX NEWS AND CALL SARAH PALIN ALL SORTS OF NAMES; HOWEVER YOU BETTER FACE THE FACTS THAT FOX NEWS HAS MORE LISTENERS THAN ALL THE OTHER NETWORKS COMBINED AND THAT SHOULD TELL YOU WHERE THE CITIZENS OF THIS NATION STAND ON THE ISSUES FACING THIS NATION TODAY.I WOULD SUGGEST YOU CONTINUE TO FOLLOW THE SAME LIBERAL SOCIALIST WRITING THAT YOU ARE NOTED FOR THAT I BELIEVE WILL LEAD TO EVEN MORE OF OUR PEOPLE TURNING TO THE AMERICAN WAY.

"They need to delve in there. They need to dig in there and get the information, get the facts, and don't believe the spin coming from..." The "Quitta from Wasilla". All she needs to do it tell everyone to watch Fox News..she can then skip the prompt notes on the palm.

For almost a decade Dems have campaigned against the Bush tax cuts. Now, Dems want us to believe they want to extend the Bush tax cuts.

If Dems wanted to extend all or part of the Bush tax cuts, they have the votes to do it.

We know Dems are good at ramming through the things they want. They did it for the healthcare bill - by hook and by crook. Of course, the healthcare bill increased taxes, so Dems went all out supporting it.

Does anyone really believe Dems want to cut taxes? Or, is it more credible that Dems want to do what they have been saying for many years - repeal the Bush tax cuts.

Governor Palin is right to call for the Dems to prove they are making a U-turn on their campaign against the Bush tax cuts by actually passing a law extending the cuts, instead of just talking about it.

For almost a decade Dems have campaigned against the Bush tax cuts. Now, Dems want us to believe they want to extend the Bush tax cuts.

If Dems wanted to extend all or part of the Bush tax cuts, they have the votes to do it.

We know Dems are good at ramming through the things they want. They did it for the healthcare bill - by hook and by crook. Of course, the healthcare bill increased taxes, so Dems went all out supporting it.

Does anyone really believe Dems want to cut taxes? Or, is it more credible that Dems want to do what they have been saying for many years - repeal the Bush tax cuts.

Governor Palin is right to call for the Dems to prove they are making a U-turn on their campaign against the Bush tax cuts by actually passing a law extending the cuts, instead of just talking about it.

Every time Sarah Palin opens her mouth, I curse John McCain for bringing this below- average-intelligence idiot to lime light. She called her plm-scribbling as her teleprompter. Proves that she can't scan more than 3 words at a time.
Reading from the teleprompter is an art. You would never know that Obama is reading from the teleprompter other than you see those 2 grey color plates on either side of the podium. "W" couldn't read without squinting his eyes. So like Sarah Palin he started flipping pages out of a note book. Idiots like the 1/2 Governor of Alaska would always belittle whatever they cannot do.

The problem with Sarah, as the McCain staffers complained during the election, is that she "just makes stuff up". Her talent is in telling her idiot followers what they want to believe, so they don't care whether it's true or not.

Every republican president of late has run up 10 trillion in deficit, and has claim to being economics expert. I remember an interesting program in the late 60's, not sure if California state or Federal. An employer hires a person from the unemployment office, they have skills but problem getting job. Government pays half the wage for a year trial period. Employer has option to tryout up to 3 employees if previous don't work out. They found it cost less for government with less unemployment or welfare paid out and spurs small business to expand and pay more to government from profits. Employers motivated to keep the guy with low cost of subsidized wage, employees motivated to keep a job which pays fairly decent wage. I worked with a guy on the program, he had quirks but knew stuff, they kept him on after the year.

Quitter Palin raised Taxes on the Oil Companies in Alaska, while her State was running an annual budget surplus. She did it, just so she could buy votes by sending out Oil Revenues Welfare Checks to every resident of the State.

She is a complete fraud. She raised taxes, when there was already an annual revenues surplus.

As soon as the going got a bit tough, she quit. Just walked out on the people who voted her in.

If she could not finish a single term in a backwater small state, where all she had to do was sent out oil revenue checks to the voters;

How the hell would she ever be able to take the heat in the White House.

tkmmd:You are just another uninformed rightwinger. Who started running our deficit into the trillions with his two wars and tax cuts for the most wealthy?George W. Bush is his name. Why can't you people ever get a fact straight? the answer is you listen to traitors Limbaugh,Hennity,Beck and dummy Palin.

Palin is simply the female version of George W. Bush, fractured grammer and all. Palin however does'nt have a Laura Bush or a Pappy Bush to help keep her more nakedly fascist tendency under control. Talk about Beltway Lil Abners, if she WAS elected to high office we might as well rename D.C. 'Dogpatch'.

I would like to see Sarah Palin or anyone else who is criticizing the idea of allowing these cuts to expire (as enacted by Republicans prior to massive spending increases themselves) to enumerate which programs they will cut to support smaller government. That's it, this is all I ask... No pain no gain.

At some point the GOP has to actually attempt to run a smaller, more efficient government.

Now, let's see: Palin - Greenspan, Greenspan - Palin, Palin - Greenspan. Based on where we've landed on Big Al's watch, that's a toss up! And I say that with irrational exuberance, all things considered. That's all any of us can muster these days with all the talking heads picking up their paychecks while commenting on either what they caused or are powerless to change.

"db9999 - you better start reading something other than that right-wing propaganda. As soon as that clown got to the part with the Laffer curve, I knew he was full of it. Even top economists from the Bush administration say these Republicons are full of it. This is what they said then, and here's the results of the Bush tax cuts. The tax cuts have been largely opposed by American economists, including the Bush administration's own Economic Advisement Council. In 2003, 450 economists, including ten Nobel Prize laureate, signed the Economists' statement opposing the Bush tax cuts, sent to President Bush stating that "these tax cuts will worsen the long-term budget outlook... will reduce the capacity of the government to finance Social Security and Medicare benefits as well as investments in schools, health, infrastructure, and basic research... [and] generate further inequalities in after-tax income." The Bush administration has claimed, based on the concept of the Laffer Curve, that the tax cuts actually paid for the themselves by generating enough extra revenue from additional economic growth to offset the lower taxation rates. However, income tax revenues in dollar terms did not regain their FY 2000 peak until 2006. Through the end of 2008, total federal tax revenues relative to GDP have yet to regain their 2000 peak. In contrast to the claims made by Bush, Cheney, and Republican presidential primary candidates such as Rudy Giuliani, there is a broad consensus among even conservative economists (including current and former top economists of the Bush Administration such as Greg Mankiw) that the tax cuts have had a substantial net negative impact on revenues (i.e., revenues would have been substantially higher if the tax cuts had not taken place.) And Palin is as dumb as a box-of-rocks. Is there anything you right-wingers won't do to take back power? "

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He also forgot about Greenspan's testimony to Congress where he admitted his economic theory was flawed. And these Republicans still want to adhere to a flawed system. Why? Because of excessive greed. They made out like bandits while everyone else is flailing.

Why do Republicans want to continue with policies that have proven to be failures? Because they are lower than dog s***.

Yeah, that's a great idea! They are the ones who put us in Iraq, that stunning success!

It was dreamed up by Charles Krauthammer, the twisted little man who worked for the extremist conservative Benyamin Netanyahu, in his first term of Israeli Prime Minister, who dreamed up the disaster, the mass killings in Iraq. He brought that disgusting and hateful idea to Baby Bush, who wasn't as astute as Netanyahu, and tried it, resulting in the mass killings of hundreds of thousands of innocent civilians - by the designs of American Conservatives!

When anyone goes to the Heritage Foundation, they should be armed with subpoenas, investigators, and prosecutors.

When Bush/Cheney took office; the federal government was running an annual budget surplus. Bush passed his massive tax cuts for the super rich. When he left office; the government was running a huge annual budget deficit, and millions of Americans had been put out of their jobs.

Tell us again; That Republican Fairy Tale; the one where Large Tax Cuts Balance The Budget, and creates jobs.

We could use a good laugh, during these hard times, that Bush/Cheney inflicted on America.

Not me, buddy. Since you're defending Quitter Sarah, you must be one of those rich folks that have made out like bandits lately. Because surely you are not stupid enough to support Repub policy that hurts YOU economically.

Anything Sarah Palin says is at best uninformed, but more often a deliberate lie. Why does she write her notes on her hands? Because the problem with liars is that they have to remember what they said, whereas it's easy to keep track of the truth.

Let them all expire. They weren't worth that much to those of us in the middle class anyway. What, about $28 a month? Of course Palin wants them, as she's fleecing about $12 million a year off her fans.

The Bush tax cuts are unaffordable and none of them should be renewed. When Bush issued his first cuts in 2001, the dollar was strong because the US was running its first budget surpluses since the 1950s. Since then, we have turned to record deficits and the dollar has lost 60% of is value.

No one is serious about cutting the Federal budget. It's just too painful and the biggest cuts have to come from entitlements today, not 30 years from now, and from DOD. Republicans will do neither because their base is too old and reliant on Social Security, and because cutting DOD would be blasphemous to them.

The rest of the government is simply too small to make up for the short fall, and includes all the functions we rely on government to supply: law enforcement, infrastructure, food safety, transportation, research, etc.

Palin has her panties in a knot because she is now one of those wealthy people whose tax cuts will expire under Obama's plan. She doesn't want to pay one more dime to help pay for the futile ridiculous wars her party got us into, or give back anything to the country that has given her the opportunity to be as rich and dumb as she can be. Greed has certainly scrambled her silly little head.

Hemihead,
Nothing you wrote is accurate...or relevant. You're as dumb as Marcus. Do you lefties read much
=========
I'm just telling it like it is. You ask any economists, even from the right, and see what they say. If you want to give tax cuts, you better be prepared to make massive cuts in spending. And you know as well as I do they're not going to do that. These wars and the BS war on terror will break us. You ever see that senate hearing with Rumsfeld on You Tube, 2.3 trillion dollars in defense spending they made vanish into thin air. And when an auditor came in to try and find some of the money, he was laughed at and blocked at every turn. And to this day the Pentagon cant account for the money it spends. Our whole Govt. is corrupt. Look up the video on YT - Rumsfeld. 2.3 trillion tax-payer dollars missing. Better yet, here's the link. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_rRqeJcuK-A

HemiHead66 :

You are exactly correct..
ON TV a few months ago.
Forget the channel and day
BUT
TWO Think Tanks Debated the Deficit and Budget.

Hemihead....Let's look at wrote you copy and pasted here for a minute....can you see the glaring issue?

"...will reduce the capacity of the government to finance Social Security and Medicare benefits as well as investments in schools, health, infrastructure, and basic research... [and] generate further inequalities in after-tax income."

We pay for Social Security and Medicare in our payroll taxes which are NOT part of the Bush INCOME tax cuts....those cuts increased the amount of income you could make before entering another higher tax bracket and they increased the Child Tax Credit to "$1,000 per child instead of the $500.00 per child under Clinton.

Furthermore - WHY should our INCOME taxes be funding Social Security and Medicare when we are having 1.5% taxation on our INCOME separate from the INCOME tax also withheld from our paychecks? I'll let you know why - the Congress of the United States voted to allow themselves to raid the Social Security/Medicare trust fund and write IOU's to replace the funds....NOW, when the retirees are beginning to outnumber the workers those IOU's have resulted in a Ponzi Scheme that is beginning to unravel - all because the funds that were to be left there for this scenario were stolen by the Congress of the United States.

The only part of your writings that I agree with are the words about the tax inequality....that much is true and could be solved by a Fair Flat Tax.....

"Prestigious economist Arthur Laffer vehemently disagrees." What a frigging joke.
Reagan embraced Laffer and increased the national debt from 32.5% to 53.1% of GDP. Bush the First, relying on Reagan's Laffer policies, increased the national debt from 53.1% to 66.1% of GDP. Clinton REDUCED the national, by IGNORING Laffer from 66.1% to 56.4%.
Bush, the Lesser, once more relying on Laffer, increased, and reversed the trend Clinton started, by increasing the national debt from 56.4% to 83.4% EIGHTY THREE friggin per cent.
So much for the Laffer curve working. So much for your fiscal conservative heroes.

"Indeed, Greg Mankiw, no less, chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers under George W. Bush, has responded to the view that broad-based tax cuts would pay for themselves, as follows: “I did not find such a claim credible, based on the available evidence. I never have, and I still don’t.” Indeed, he has referred to those who believe this as “charlatans and cranks”. Those are his words, not mine, though I agree. They apply, in force, to contemporary Republicans, alas," - Financial Times, Martin Wolf, July 25, 2010

Posted by: drjcarlucci
_____________________________
hardly, but that doesn't excuse lying about what is being proposed, the amount, and who is responsible either. Bush made the tax cuts temporary, so Bush is the one responsible for taxes going up if nothing is done. Democrats are proposing to make all but 700 Billion of them permanent. So Democrats are actually proposing a 3 trillion tax cut, not a 3.7 trillion tax increase. Even if you want to indulge the "not extending a cut is actually an increase" fiction, it's a 700 Billion increase, not a 3.7 trillion increase. So at the very best, Palin is off by three trillion.

But we already knew that facts have never gotten in the way of a good lie in her case.

and as for her 'cojones' remark, same problem. Obama can't propose anything short of shooting illegals on sight without Republicans attacking him for it and filibustering it to boot, so the fact that Repbulicans won't play ball is the problem, not Obama's lack of nerve. He's not dumb enough to propose anything under the current situation.

and Palin crediting AZ's governor for doing what Obama hasn't is just plain goofy. Obama has done a better job of enforcing existing law than Bush did, and the AZ law just has local folks getting in the way, not accomplishing a darn thing in the end. Palin is comparing apples and oranges. AZ's governor didn't propose comprehensive immigration reform at all, so Palin giving her the credit for doing what Obama hasn't is just looney. The AZ bill doesn't cover amnesty, guest workers, paths to citizenship, deportation of more than 10 million people, or shooting on sight. Proposing any of the above will take cojones indeed, but AZ didn't display any with its silly law.

Even David Stockman, Pres. Reagan's director of the Office of Management and Budget, wrote an article yesterday saying that Republicans have lost their way, and that there has to be spending cuts ALONG with TAX INCREASES to even attempt to bring the deficit under control - I can't believe modern day Republicans, people like Palin, Boehner, et al, really believe that they espouse; I cringe to think what kind of nation we would be without any government, which the talking heads and modern day Republicans sell to their followers to get elected; then wonder why some of those same followers go postal and start killing people (Socialist! Communist! Fascist! Terrorist lovers! Unpatriotic!) I know of several governor or governor wannabes in the South who talked to secession from the country - some patriots; they lose the election, so like poor losers in a kid game, threaten to go home (Wah! Wah! Wah! I lost, so I'm going home and tell my mommie!) Give me a break! The real patriots here are those willing to sacrifice some for their country--and putting a little yellow ribbon on the back of your car is hardly sacrificing--

When Pelosi / Reid / Obama took over Congress in Jan 2007, after 12 years of Republican prosperity, unemployment was at 4%, DOW was at a record high, we had had 54 straight months of economic growth.

The recession started in late 2007, nearly A YEAR AFTER the Democrat Congress took power, with the DOW is down 40% from when Pelosi/Reid/Obama took over The Republican Congress had 4 budget surplus years, and left in 2006, with the DOW at a record high, unemployment sub 4%, deficits were moderate and trending down, and after 52 straight months of economic growth.

100% of the recession, 100% of the stock market drop, 100% of skyrocketing unemployment, 100% of the bailouts, the crash of the Frank/Dodd financial system, a 40% growth in Govt spending, and $3.8 Trillion of new deficit debt, the worst environmental disaster in US history belongs to THIS DEMOCRAT CONGRESS.

TWELVE LONG YEARS OF RECORD PROSPERITY with the Republican Congress,
THREE YEARS OF FAILURE, MISERY, FISCAL INSANITY, ENVIRONMENTAL DISASTER, AND RUIN UNDER Pelosi/Reid/Obama...
**************************
Let me REFUTE or REPUDIATE the above....

This most recent recession is at the hands of businesses.

The Dow was at a high, but it was an "artificial high". The housing market was booming, and construction was high. The demand for subprime mortgages and the lessening of traditional income verifications requirements started in 2003, way before the 2006 Democratic Congress started. Money was way TOO easy to find, because it was pretty much all artificial money. Housing prices were inflated, but began coming down in late 2006 and 2007. This was not because of the Democratic Congress, but because people's wages could not keep pace with the overinflated home prices. Something had to give. Houses sat on the market, and people started defaulting on their homes bank in 2006. Banks had already collateralized their mortgages, and sold them as securities, so the risk wasn't on banks, it was on everyone who had invested in securities in one way or another. These securities were deemed AAA or top-notch, with no risk by companies like Moody's, who were supposed to report things as they were, not as they hoped they were.

Who held these securities? Pension funds, ordinary people like you and I, foreign nations bought these mortgage-backed securities. Hedge funds are not tightly regulated by the SEC, and because they borrow money to make investments, a crisis in the housing market accelerated losses in the market.

Who is sitting on profits right now? Banks, Financial Services and Hedge funds are doing well, too. Why aren't we? Think about it. This is one of the biggest transfers of money from the poor to the rich in history.

If Republicans want to keep the 33 billion a year which it takes to fund the tax cuts for those making over 250k/yr flowing into the economy, why not pass a bill containing equivalent tax breaks for small business? Or, we could build a group of solar and wind power factories in every state for far less money.

I haven't believed a thing Sarah Palin has said since I happened to watch her resignation speech. Instead of being forthcoming about the reasons behind her resignation she played the blame game. It would have been refreshing to hear her say that she was resigning to take advantage of her new-found celebrity status and to make boatloads of money. She owed the voters of Alaska the truth but instead made the bogus claim that she was being forced out of office. Much of what she says is misinformation gathered from other sources. None of it is her own opinion. She is just following the lead of other right-wing bomb throwers.

I'm curious-how many of you here make the
$250,00.00? We are just normal hard-working "middle class" folks, who have gone by the rules, saved (until health
costs took away about 50% of it), tried to
better ourselves frugally, etc. In our mid 60's now, have never together earned more than $75,000.00 per year. Am I wrong,
are we really middle class? Those earning the $250,000.00 don't need the tax cuts, and I think that particular "cap" is just incredulous for probably 90% of us "normal"
Americans. Care to share?

No matter how many sheep follow her, no matter how many times she blabbers on FOX News, no matter how many times she sends out bleep's and tweet's from her twitter account, and no matter how many times she post subliminal messages on her face book page, she will always be a dimwitted "air head".

This is what they said then, and here's the results of the Bush tax cuts. The tax cuts have been largely opposed by American economists, including the Bush administration's own Economic Advisement Council. In 2003, 450 economists, including ten Nobel Prize laureates, signed the Economists' statement opposing the Bush tax cuts, sent to President Bush stating that "these tax cuts will worsen the long-term budget outlook... will reduce the capacity of the government to finance Social Security and Medicare benefits as well as investments in schools, health, infrastructure, and basic research... [and] generate further inequalities in after-tax income."

Posted by: HemiHead66

This is the heart of the matter actually. I'm sure Bush jizzed his pants when he got that report back and couldn't warm his pen up quick enough, because bankrupting America and removing all social safety nets is #2 on the agenda of the GOP. Right behind making the Supreme Court as right wing as possible because those are lifetime appointments and allow them to continue to gut America even when they're out of power through elections.

Why else does the GOP make such a fuss about losing the executive branch while they seem relatively content to play the role of spoiler in Congress? They know with 5 solid right wing fascists holding the bench it doesn't make a lick of difference who holds the House or the Senate. Eventually in their eyes even the White House won't make that much of a difference if the court is tilted far enough.

You forgot, maybe conveniently, to include the OFF BUDGET items in the Bush deficit: Unfunded Prescription Drug Benefit; Daddy's war, oops, I mean the Iraq War; and, the Afghanistan War.

Obama had the political cojones to ADD those into the budget.
________________
and Obama's deficit, just like Bush's, is largely the result of the recession, not spending, only to a greater extent, because the recession is much bigger than the one Bush endured, and Obama hasn't added any off budget items, as noted. Health reform reduces the deficit, and ARRA is paying for itself (not to mention having stabilized the bond, credit, and stock markets).

You forgot, maybe conveniently, to include the OFF BUDGET items in the Bush deficit: Unfunded Prescription Drug Benefit; Daddy's war, oops, I mean the Iraq War; and, the Afghanistan War.

Obama had the political cojones to ADD those into the budget.
_________________________
and of course comparing more than a decade, including an economic boom, with a two year period that includes only a recession, is entirely bogus.

Ah yes, I remember when Clinton and a Democratic Congress raised taxes on the wealthy and conservatives predicted it would crash the fragile economic recovery. And I remember the Bush tax cuts which conservatives said would usher in an age of unprecedented prosperity not just for the wealthy but for all income groups.

Why doesn't evidence matter to so many people?

And for those who think we can get control over the deficit while keeping all the tax cuts in place...what color is the sky on your planet? That's simply not possible, given what I've heard from anyone who has actually looked at the numbers.

You can't be a deficit hawk and keep all the tax cuts. Deficit reduction will require both spending reductions and revenue increases. No amount of theoretical fantasizing will change that reality.

I mean thinks about it. She had to read all the questions from her FOX pals in advance and memorize the answers. And here cute little palm stunt. Oh she is an every day person they will think. Down to earth they will say. I was hoping just once they would ask her to be specific and not just spit platitudes.

Ms Marcus, you have heard this argument before. Remember when candidates proposed a reduction from a scheduled 6% increase in entitlements to a more sensible 5% increase and the Democrats howled about the inhumane CUTS? And remember the School Lunch lies? Did you editorialize then?

The "only 3%" who make more than $250,000. are already paying about half the taxes!

If you want to address the inequity of the tax laws then lets tackle the almost 50% who pay NO taxes and are therefore prone to voting for more Government spending which they hope will benefit them personally. They not only pay none of it, but with 3 kids, can receive $6750.00.
in "Earned Income Tax Credits" which THEY IN NO WAY, EARNED!!!!! (You can lable that as "redistribution of wealth"!)

Those people daily benefit from other peoples hard work, use services for which they have scant appreciation, and most columnists at the east coast papers seem not to have discovered this so far.

TO: db9999 who wrote:
“Hemihead,
Nothing you wrote is accurate...or relevant.
You're as dumb as Marcus. Do you lefties read much?

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

You bet we read a lot, we listen too, we keep an open mind about things, and we have never been like Republicans who keep their eyes, ears and mind tightly closed to anything they don’t want to believe.

We don’t play pretend.

Sure, we Dems would LOVE to keep all of the Bush Tax Cuts, it's just, in reality, we don't have the money.

That said, if the Republicans would like to keep the Bush Tax Cuts, tell us, please, how do the Republicans plan to pay for the $3 BILLION DOLLARS those tax cuts will cost us?

Alan Greenspan (on Meet the Press) that the only way to keep the Bush Tax Cuts would be to borrow the $3 Billion Dollars.

Is that what the Republicans advocate? Borrowing, AGAIN? Cause that sure sounds like the same thing that Republicans ALWAYS do that gets this country into so much trouble: borrow and spend, borrow and spend, borrow and spend, borrow and spend, borrow and spend, borrow and spend, borrow and spend, borrow and spend, borrow and spend, borrow and spend, borrow and spend, borrow and spend, borrow and spend, borrow and spend, borrow and spend, borrow and spend, borrow and spend, borrow and spend, borrow and spend, borrow and spend, borrow and spend, borrow and spend.

TO: TitletownUSA who wrote:
“Ruth Marcus and the brain-dead Palin bashers - stop attacking the messenger and address the points…”

^^^^^^^^^^^^^

We did, it’s just that Republicans’ minds are closed tight:

Here’s one point:

"… [Palin said:] Let me just go through a couple of things that I want people to be aware of, because, you know, the spin coming from Gibbs and the White House -- you're never going to get the truth out of their messaging," she said…”

[Ruth Marcus said:] -- and then [Palin] proceeded to deliver this misinformation:
[Palin said] “Democrats are poised now to cause this largest tax increase in U.S. history…”
[Ruth Marcus said:] “Sorry, you don't know what you're talking about.”

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Ruth Marcus was kind enough not to call Palin a liar straight out, probably because everybody knows Palin is not the smartest pencil in the drawer, and Palin is constantly mistating facts intentionally or unintentionally.

That’s why Republicans are demogogues. They lie to try to gain political advantage.

Where are people getting those 3 billions, or 33 billions; figures from for how much renewing the Bush Tax cuts would cost in revenue?

Why not take Quitter Palin at her word. She claims that not renewing the Bush Tax cuts adds up to 3.8 Trillions of dollars, so that would mean that renewing those tax cuts, would cost the government 3.8 trillion in tax revenues , ergo adding 3.8 trillions to the already massive national debt.

This woman, SP, could go on stage and bite off the head of a puppy, and there are still enough right wingers to go on her defense like the ones in here. The best is to ignore her. Believe me, your life will be a whole lot better

palin like all immature adolescents love to compare conjons and other body parts with their intellectual superiors.
palin should take care of her children, grandchild and the one from her future son in law, due any day.
take care of your own house, grandmama grizzly, we don't want any more "mistakes".

YOU CAN DENIGRATE FOX NEWS AND CALL SARAH PALIN ALL SORTS OF NAMES; HOWEVER YOU BETTER FACE THE FACTS THAT FOX NEWS HAS MORE LISTENERS THAN ALL THE OTHER NETWORKS COMBINED AND THAT SHOULD TELL YOU WHERE THE CITIZENS OF THIS NATION STAND ON THE ISSUES FACING THIS NATION TODAY.I WOULD SUGGEST YOU CONTINUE TO FOLLOW THE SAME LIBERAL SOCIALIST WRITING THAT YOU ARE NOTED FOR THAT I BELIEVE WILL LEAD TO EVEN MORE OF OUR PEOPLE TURNING TO THE AMERICAN WAY.

Posted by: jackwbarnes1
________________

And the comics get more readers than Fox News, doesn't mean they have anything relevant to say about the economy.

Where the majority of Americans stand for replacing incumbents has no bearing on Palin being duplicitous and ignorant. It just means she lies with more gusto.

If the American way is to turn you back on the helpless, start unnecessary wars, and believe good-looking women who only want to fill their bank accounts then count me, veteran and patriot, out.

If the American way is to type in all caps and rant you can count me out too. Have it all Jackie, after you screw it up no one will want it.

You can debate the merits of economic results of extending tax cuts or not. My feeling is those that go to the top 5% are basically useless as economic stimulus since in this economy those people will sit on the money until the economy gets better before investing in anything that may stimulate the economy and retain/creatae jobs. I read something the other day that the fortune 500 companies have nearly $2T in capital reserves they aren't spending for the same reason. It's herd mentality.

But one thing that isn't debatable is that extending these tax cuts would raise the deficit by trillions of dollars over the next decade. So if you are in favor of extending the tax cuts, that's fine...I disagree, but hey your opinion. Just don't ever tell you are in favor of tackling the deficit since that is one of the main culprits (along with the 2 unfunded wars and the recession) for our current deficit.

If Palin is serious about fiscal policy, she should put out her serious fiscal plan. Otherwise, all she's promising is a free lunch. Tea Party folks can complain about the size of government, but there are very few areas that have majority support for cuts, even within self-identified Tea Partiers, and even those cuts don't amount to much.

So let's see some numbers. Governance requires making choices. We're waiting....

"Democrats are poised now to cause this largest tax increase in U.S. history. It's a tax increase of $3.8 trillion over the next 10 years, and it will have an effect on every single American who pays an income tax." Palin even wrote it on her palm: "$3.8 trillion, next ten years, so I didn't say 3.7 and then get dinged, you know, by the -- by the liberals saying I didn't know what I was talking about."
___________________________________

Here's a lady who countless numbers want to be their next president, and she can't even carry the number $3.8 trillion in her head. What's she going to do when she runs out of room to write down more than the simplest stuff on her hands?

Even more, she either has her facts wrong or she's willfully misrepresented the truth about the size of their tax cuts that Obama and the Dems want to let expire. The former is bad enough; but if it's the latter, then she's willfully bearing false witness which I would think would offend many of her followers - unless they can see no excess in anythihg Sarah Palin says or does?

After pointing her finger at the speck in the eyes of liberals, I wonder if she has it in her heart to humbly and with genuine godly sorrow apologize to them?

Ok,forget whether either Marcus or Palin know what they're talking about. There is a posting on Sunday at 6:02 PM from ThoseWhoServe that pretty well addresses the mangled accounting of the 2001 and 2003 Bush tax cuts used by so-called fiscal conservatives, and the havoc the cuts wrought on the U S economy.

Why haven't any of you other self-proclaimed fiscal conservatives addressed
any of the points made in that posting?

And really, those of you who are taking her palm writing business seriously don't understand her shtick.

The original instance, when she wrote "energy," "tax cuts," and "lift American spirits" on her hand, was nothing more than an orchestrated parlor trick. She's deliberately casting herself as the opposite of Obama, and those notes on her hand were her way of knocking what many on the right feel to be a reliance on the teleprompter.

And the media coverage was so great, she has gone back to that well several times. Like when she revealed "Hi Mom!" written on her hand at a rally, and again on her appearance at Fox news.

It's a rhetorical ploy aimed at making her seem folksy to her followers and ignorant to her detractors. And it's working. She's dumb, but also dumb like a fox.

Suggestions:
1) Every time the Post runs a story or op-ed about Mama Grizzly it should also run one about Jon Stewart. He actually occupies a position of authority and he actually knows what he is talking about. Mama Grizzly couldn't last a full term in a state with more bears than people. The idea that she is a 'player' with a future running for President is absurd. So really, who cares?
2)My fellow readers- stop clicking on stories about Mama Grizzly. Then the media will stop covering her. OK, starting-- NOW!

“What's really idiotic, though, is…” anyone, Fox News or the Washington Post, taking Sarah Palin seriously as a political pundit and/or candidate. I’m not surprised Fox News would do this (but I don’t watch Fox News), however, I was hoping that a more “legitimate” outlet like the Washington Post would avoid giving her space.

“No matter how many times Sarah Palin writes it on her palm,…”

And no matter how many times the MSM covers Sarah Palin, that won’t make her a credible political pundit or candidate. Please leave her to the tabloids (and Fox News).

Suggestions:
1) Every time the Post runs a story or op-ed about Mama Grizzly it should also run one about Jon Stewart. He actually occupies a position of authority and he actually knows what he is talking about. Mama Grizzly couldn't last a full term in a state with more bears than people. The idea that she is a 'player' with a future running for President is absurd. So really, who cares?
2)My fellow readers- stop clicking on stories about Mama Grizzly. Then the media will stop covering her. OK, starting-- NOW!

Sounds plausible, JohninMpls. Still, she has her facts wrong; and if she keeps it up, she's deliberately lying. But then, maybe she justifies it because she knows the liberals lie all the time, and because those who don't know the facts probably aren't interested in the truth.

We have a problem. Middle class Americans are not going to purchase exotic financial instruments to fund loans to subprime applicants, which allows wall street heavies to steal all the money and leave everyone broke. Fell for that once, won't fall for it again.

someone needs to explain to me who cutting taxes for someone who make 20 million a year is going to create jobs. If you make 20 million a year, one more million is not going to make you run out and create a job, expecially when consumers are not spending. When you put monies in the hands of people who have plenty, you create speculation on their part and they create bubbles for the rest of us...housing, stock, etc. If you want to give tax cuts, give it to people who are actually starting a business or who has workers now, etc. I make 10 million a year and if you give me another million I won't open a business in this climate.

Ruth give it up with all the Palin columns. I could care less what she has to say about privates. You only enhance her media share for a temporary bump when job creation should be a large part of constructive writing. An example would be to show the Dubya tax cuts as a bad way to create jobs while something out of the GOP book like an investment tax credit only in the USA with USA goods paid for by return to long/short capital gains. Indexing capital gains over 10 million to a max of 40% at 200 million or over would dampen risk taking for prolonged growth instead while knocking down the deficit. Send a copy to Bloomberg, a good mayor but looks out for himself concerning business income.

There is simply no way to address the Federal deficit without raising Federal taxes. So the politics comes down to whose taxes and by how much? It makes no sense to raise the taxes of families that can barely pay for necessities and in fact they should lowered by simply eliminating the portion they must pay to social security. Eliminating the cap on social security and making it proportional like the income tax will easily solve the so called Social Security problem. Income taxes on the wealthy should approach confiscatory levels when the income reaches the stratosphere. Somebody earning 1 billion dollars is still left with a pretty munificent income of 300 million after paying 70% tax, while someone earning $50,000 is left with $40,000 after paying 15% income tax and 81/2% Social Security.

to further bolster your commentary, it seems to me that with the recession going on, the fat cats with money to spend will not invest it if they are afraid of poor returns. They will NOT invest and thus will NOT create new jobs. That is exactly what they have NOT been doing for the last 6,8 years or so. In other words, NOT investing and NOT growing the economy. Instead they have done everything possible to ship all jobs out of this country. Sweat factories in 3rd world countries, call centers on the other side of the world, etc... ("coincidence": this has all increased within the approx time frame of the Chimp's tax cuts)

The rich guys will instead do the equivalent of stuffing their money under the mattress, e.g. buy gold and such to conserve personal wealth instead of investing in their country.

But if the rich guys' tax rate was restored to where it should be before their buddy the Chimp gave them a tax break, they would have the incentive to invest instead of hoard. Once it is in their own self-interests to make their money work for them, they will invest in startups, plant expansions, etc., etc.

Because money invested is taxed at a lower rate than money hoarded. Right now with the artificially low tax rates that Chenay and his Chimp gave them, the richies have no incentive to create jobs.

And they will not have any further incentive to invest if their lucrative tax cut remains in place.

Thank you, Ruth Marcus, for pointing out the obvious. Your column today has the lovely scent of common sense. Isn't it too bad that common sense is so uncommon?

The essential problem with ex-Governor Palin is that she cannot or perhaps will not discriminate between fact and fiction. She lacks credibility except with the credulous. Let her enjoy her 15 minutes of fame. She is a born comedienne. I hope she will embrace her true calling!

Thank you, Ruth Marcus, for pointing out the obvious. Your column today has the lovely scent of common sense. Isn't it too bad that common sense is so uncommon?

The essential problem with ex-Governor Palin is that she cannot or perhaps will not discriminate between fact and fiction. She lacks credibility except with the credulous. Let her enjoy her 15 minutes of fame. She is a born comedienne. I hope she will embrace her true calling!

Thank you, Ruth Marcus, for pointing out the obvious. Your column today has the lovely scent of common sense. Isn't it too bad that common sense is so uncommon?

The essential problem with ex-Governor Palin is that she cannot or perhaps will not discriminate between fact and fiction. She lacks credibility except with the credulous. Let her enjoy her 15 minutes of fame. She is a born comedienne. I hope she will embrace her true calling!

Thank you, Ruth Marcus, for pointing out the obvious. Your column today has the lovely scent of common sense. Isn't it too bad that common sense is so uncommon?

The essential problem with ex-Governor Palin is that she cannot or perhaps will not discriminate between fact and fiction. She lacks credibility except with the credulous. Let her enjoy her 15 minutes of fame. She is a born comedienne. I hope she will embrace her true calling ASAP!

Thank you, Ruth Marcus, for pointing out the obvious. Your column today has the lovely scent of common sense. Isn't it too bad that common sense is so uncommon?

The essential problem with ex-Governor Palin is that she cannot or perhaps will not discriminate between fact and fiction. She lacks credibility except with the credulous. Let her enjoy her 15 minutes of fame. She is a born comedienne. I hope she will embrace her true calling ASAP!

When will the press stop lending credence to Sarah Palin? She has nothing intelligent to offer to the political discourse in this country, but everyday, she is quoted as if she were some intelligent observer of the political scene. You created this monster; please let her out to pasture.

Maybe Obama can have a cojones competition with our most recent President on this matter. From today's Wall Street Journal (liberal rag!):

In the first nine months of fiscal year 2010, 137,000 illegal immigrants designated as criminal aliens were deported, according to the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, 60% more than in a comparable period of the Bush administration's last year and about one-third more than in a comparable period in the Obama administration's first year.

Ms. Marcus doesn't make the argument particularly well, but she essentially is correct, and Palin is completely wrong. Bush's tax cuts were a complete failure, in terms of stimulating economic growth. The U.S. actually lost private sector jobs during his tenure, and the Dow ended up giving back whatever growth in shareholder value it achieved during his second term. Moreover, middle-class Americans actually lost ground in terms of income, though the wealth at the top increased. Worse yet, the
in that regard, since his eight years actually saw a loss of private sector jobs. Worse yet, the tax cuts combined with war expenditures and stagnant economic growth to escalate the deficit to gigantic proportions. Letting the Bush cuts expire now would have little negative effect on the economy, and would do a great deal toward getting the deficit under control.

Palin and her psycho 'tea party' attack dogs have made a career of mounting hysteria and ludicrous falsehoods. The following should be written on her hand: "I will not be a liar any longer; I will help write my next book; I will no longer spread fear and bigotry; I will identify Trig's father."

Two years ago, when John McCain plucked her out of obscurity to be his running mate, Sarah Palin had never even read a book. Now, she has written two of them. How does someone who does not read books sell them to others who do not read books. Go figure.

If Sarah Palin, and her Tea Party supporters, and Mama Grizzlies think that her (Plain) reading notes from her hand is going to get her to the WH, then you people have another thing coming.

Who in their right mind wants a President running the country that has to read notes from their hand every time they have something simple to discuss. If she can't even remember 3.8 million over the next 10 years, how in the world will she be able to know what's going on with the daily domestic and foreign policies. Better yet, how will this dumb woman ever converse with heads of states.